Thoughts need words, and words need power… -Sharon M. Draper

If you haven’t already read the 1st chapter, please read it. It will make your time reading this chapter way easier.

“BUBBA BUBBA COCLONIAM SIRIUOS AMAKEAMAKE COOC!,” screeched the (well apparently) Leader. The Leader wore a magnificent gold crown. He had a blue cloak lined with diamonds that shimmered in the sun that shown itself above in the perfectly clear sky. I also noticed a mysterious mist, different from the one lingering in the atmosphere, surrounding him. It almost looked like it was glowing. He had some patches on him where his peel was torn off. Battle scars?

“Nananananananananananananannananannananananananananananan,” said the most wrinkled orange. “Huter nami so.”

“HUTER NAMI GO! HUTER NOMNOM ORANGES!,” cried the Leader.

“Um… Hi,” I said nervously. What were they saying?

The Oranges took a slow roll back in offense while the Grapefruits looked very pleased. The Leader rolled over to a dark patch of nebula-colored earth and started to bounce up and down on it. It was quite a sight to see. Suddenly, an enormous book came flying out of the ground. He (or She, I had no idea) held onto the book tight as he rolled back over to me. The Leader handed me the book. Well, I grabbed it off the top of his head. The front looked something like this:

I looked up the words I had just said: “Um… Hi.” Apparently, in Orange, “um” is an adjective and means “bigger.” “Hi” means “better.” I got it then. I thought that book would be very helpful, so I carefully held onto it even though it was outrageously cumbersome, hoping to not drop it. I had a feeling that these fruits were going to be very cantankerous and hard to communicate with.

What should I do next? I really wanted to go home before anything worse happened, so I looked up the sentence “Where is home?” Then, I yelled out my findings: “Nina siff julleypoll?”

The Leader once again rolled over to a darker patch of nebula-colored earth, but this time he/she started to roll all over it vigorously. Another enormous book flew up from the ground and landed directly in front of the Leader. The cover of that book looked like this:

Finally! Something that could make me better understand these fruits. The leader then said “No going home. Store not over.”

“Oh come on!,” I was clearly not happy with that answer.

“Too bad to you.”

“Yeah. I think I figured that out the second I arrived in this imbecilic place!”

I sat there, daydreaming in class. It’s a habit of mine. Believe me, it’s incurable. Just then, my teacher’s ear-piercing voice cut like a silver blade through my dream: “Okay, class! Take your journals out! Today you will be writing a journal-entry. It, not should, but MUST start with the word ‘if.’ Now, ‘if’ can be a very powerful word. Blah……blah……blah. Ms. Cracklebush’s voice was fading away. Did I also mention that I have selective hearing? The mystical world of mountains glaring through purple mist and rows of glistening trees dancing gracefully in the wind gathered into my wondrous mind again. That was the most common of the hundreds of thousands of settings that I imagine in my daydreams. It just feels so natural, even the purple mist.

All of a sudden, I lost control of my brain. I was now in deep concentration of my make-believe world. Never-ending trees. Ever so tall mountains. Mysterious purple mist. I felt like I was actually there. Then, every single one of the trees disappeared back into the grassy earth. The purple mist turned to orange. The mountains grew even taller. What was happening? Nothing was staying the same. Everything was changing. I didn’t understand. Didn’t I have control over my daydreams? The once grassy earth changed to a nebula-colored surface. This was not right, or was it?

I started to listen closely. I heard tiny voices in the distance. What were they from? Who were they from? My mind was asking all sorts of questions. Unfortunately, I couldn’t answer any of them. This was the most confusing place that I had ever “been” in. I wanted to get out of this crazy dream immediately. Then, out of nowhere, I heard this loud voice. The exact words that came out of the invisible mouth were these, “There is NO going back! At least not until you see what’s in store. MWAAAAHHAAAAAHHAAAAAAHHAAAAHHAAAA!”

“Oh… my…,” I was so scared that I couldn’t even finish that simple statement.

Suddenly, those tiny voices I heard before were getting louder. Not so tiny anymore. Louder by the second. I was freaking out. Most of me was begging to go home. But, about 2% of me wanted to see “what was in store.” I couldn’t move, which was unlucky for the remaining 98% of me.

The voices now sounded like they were directly behind me, so I whirled around in fear. I gasped. Behind me were hundreds of Oranges and a few Grapefruits decorated with gold sparkles. The Oranges had one eye and rolled around to get where they wanted. The Grapefruits were sliced in half and also had one eye. Who knows how they got around? “Uh oh,” I accidentally said out loud.